Large square balers are used in the agricultural industry to create large substantially rectangular bales of crop material by moving over crop windrows to collect loose crop material, compress it, and form it into bales that are then bound and ejected. To that end, a baler is typically mechanically coupled with a tractor, and a power take-off (PTO) mechanism transfers power from the tractor's engine to drive the baler's operation. A rotary pick-up at the front of the baler collects the loose crop material and moves it into a feeder chute. Once the feeder chute is full, its contents are moved into a forming chamber. A reciprocating plunger compresses the crop material in the forming chamber into a growing bale. Once the bale reaches a predetermined length, which could be eight feet, it is tied and ejected through a discharge outlet to fall onto the ground behind the baler. The process then continues to create the next bale.
Higher density balers can produce bales that exceed desired or acceptable bale weights. Bales of particular weights may be desired for various reasons, including ensuring that the balers' drive and structural systems are not overloaded and that transport trucks do not exceed their maximum payloads. Current load control systems for controlling bale weights often use simple algorithms that are based on the load on the plunger but that often fail to sufficiently control bale weights for various reasons, such as crop variations during field baling. Furthermore, these systems are primarily designed to protect the balers, and are only secondarily designed to have some ability to control bale weight. As a result, the weights of bales produced on the same day from the same crop in the same field may vary by more than one hundred pounds or even by several hundred pounds.
This background discussion is intended to provide information related to the present invention which is not necessarily prior art.